186 posts in this topic

As a general rule this guide tries to stick with the original official installers for two main reasons, firstly people are more likely to have confidence that there is nothing "off" about the original and secondly it's one less thing that can cause errors.

Only two non original installers are used, the SP5 pack itself, being as it is the basis of this guide and the repacked .Net installer due to it saving almost 100MB.

In the other cases the space savings are simply not enough (in my opinion) to justify replacing the original installer.

But hey, if the changes you've listed work for you, by all means go for it.

yea about it i all know... but for example java installer is very important part of every windows (most of sites use it) but not included in your list (neither officail or non-official). Link for addon is dead...

And runtime pack also - of course it is non official but very helpful in working with rare programs.

As for DX all June 2010 updaters need 3 files in their folder: BDANT.cab, BDAXP.cab, dxnt.cab - because these files were cut from (with unsupporting of w2k). Im working on DX repack now maybe sooon i will place it here.

As for adobe products and silverlight this of course isnt so important - i use them because they dont write anything in autolaunch (but this is very important thing for PC speed-uping), in very many cases non-official repacks are most useful neither official (for example Daemon tools toolbar - in your script there many lines for toolbar cleaning)

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four quick thoughts by way of offering feedback from a totally clueless 2k noob, and nLite noob

how clueless!! as in what are all these unmovable god-thingies called "share violations" ... there are hundreds of them! strewn all over my HDD! hard-coded sector-addressed "shares" with other resourcees (i.e. foreign powers?) that come into my HDD not by the usual front door of file services API, but by direct sector address! QUA!? These shares (owned by?) pretend to refer to zerobyte files and folders that were deleted ... so I still have a dos-98se mindset which is the process of getting bent. delete used to mean delete, not share, by littering my hdd freespeace with permanent unmovable back doors owned by ?? ... sorry ... for rant ... bad case of virgin frustration!! share has a whole new meaning

First aha-moment ... of course, I need to mention how amazing and helpful the whole guide is ... but the screenshot tutorial on your mediafire age, W2K_Guide_Screenshots.7z, was a key aha-piece for me. It's key to understanding the "Fire up nLite" section of guide.

2nd aha-moment apparently the unnattended control thread is, the "most important" RunOnce commands that get pasted into the text box of nLite's unattended settings page, becomes the nLite.cmd. nLite.cmd gets called by Windows' default unattended file, winnt.sif, which is found in the i386 folder. ... nLite.cmd calls the batch files. I don't know where nLite.ini gets called, but it's where nLite writes the list of installed updates to the registry (and more?) Of course you already know that ... just a noob sharing his aha-moment.

so, a two noob type questions come up ... related to the tailend parts of your 2K guide.

is there anyway I can run the nLite setup.exe from an existing system?

a local distribution share ... I have no idea what any of those three words mean!

basically, install another new system onto a second physical hdd?

-- from C: on HDD1, on IDE0, with existing 2k, or 98se system

-- install fresh system to D: new HDD2 on IDE1

-- swap HDDs, and boot from the new install?

basically just bypassing burn a cd, to test driver installs in real world

what I DO know about distribution shares is that I tried setting one up with with setupmgr.exe (in cd, support, tools, deploy, or something like that) and it destroyed my hdd -- share violations all over the place!! been hacking since dos 2.0 only to find out I don't know how to delete a file!!

the unattend.doc file in the cd, support, tools, deploy folder suggests that some degree of formatting control can be offered.

One thing that's not mentioned in your guide is to what physical device are we installing to ... does it have to be a naked unformatted hdd, which is the only hdd in the system during install, or, can it be a partitioned hdd, pre-formatted FAT32 and ready to go?

I'd like to keep my 2k system partition as small as possible (because of my ignorance about what a "share" is, and Bill's apparent propensity to maximally strew HIS share violations all over all available space of MY system hdd. I'd like to preformat it FAT32 with large clusters. Can I modify the winnt.sif to do that, or allow that, or give me ability to choose the target partition (call it a unattended-after partition selection)

can I have nLite create a slipstreamed source, use it to boot and launch setup from cd, to install to a hdd with a preformatted primary, and then transfer control to a formatted logical parition behind it, which has a copy of the nLite'd source as well as all the other progams to install? what happens if the RunOnce nLite.cmd sets variable %I to logical partition D, thus running the RunOnce installs from a logical partition.

a second thought ... I'm suspicious that Bill's complementary indexing services also causes explorer to litter up hdds with HIS share violations. Many of the share violations (which are locked down sectors on the hdd that the MS defrag API refuses to move) are created by the Open Office install. If the OO install is running faster than Bill's complementary indexing service can datamine the temporary .txt and .doc files, then that could cause Bill's explorer to create these crazy zerobyte unmovable fixitudes. In your default win2000sp5 nLite file, I suggest turning off indexing services. You are right to NOT set 48bit LBA, because rollover problems happen when a system is opened up to 48bit lba, and it is running on top of a bios that is 28bit LBA.

also, I am learning the hard way that 2k wasn't designed to, and does not like to, be run from an administrator account. I guessing here, but ... when Bill creates a share violation (every backdoor entry into a hdd is a violation ... when it comes to hdds, everybody should come through the front door only) under a guest account by rapid creation and deletion of files and dirs, then a logon as admin might clear them. if they occur during an admin session, the only way to clear them (IF ANY can be found aside from reformat and rebuild) is a reboot to safemode.

is there anything else that your 2L-nLite install could do to keep these amazing rascals off the hdd?

by now, I'm way off subject ... as usual ... sorry for the rants ... HUGE KUDDOS for the amazing and helpful guilde ... it REALLY made a difference in me getting my bootstraps up.

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I don't know where those "share violations" you've encountered would have come from, I've never encountered them in my testing (mostly in VM's but also on some real machines).

The "Last Session.ini" file doesn't get written to the registry or anything like that. It's main purpose is troubleshooting and/or so you can simply reload it rather than re-entering all your settings.

I know that there are projects that allow you to install Windows from a USB stick (mainly useful for netbooks), although I haven't tried them myself:

Your hard drive doesn't have to be in any particular configuration, the install CD includes a basic partitioning tool that allows you to create and delete partitions and choose which partition to install to. However you shouldn't change the HDD order after installing as that will confuse the bootloader.

You can install to a FAT32 partition but I don't recommend it (pure data storage could be FAT32) as using the file access permissions under NTFS and running as a limited user will defeat 92% of known attack vectors (the guide I've written in the CD root directory gives tips on running as a limited user).

I personally allocate 32GB as a boot partition and the rest of my storage as data (on my XP x64 system, almost half of that is still free), if you're not intending to install much additional software you might get away with as little as 16GB. Note that you can right click on the "My Documents" folder under Windows Explorer and have it point to a folder on your data partition or disk.

Yes, in theory you could do the RunOnce installs from a separate partition on the hard drive, as the search for Run1_W2K.bat doesn't care if it's on a CD or a HDD (I haven't tried it though), just make sure that the folder layout is the same and pull any card reader before installing (an empty card reader will cause an invalid drive error and halt the drive search) .

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I'm coming from 98se. It's still the greatest (haha) but 2K is starting to look pertty cool. I have a hard time findnig answers to my stupid questions about groups and users. (who do I ask to get permission to be a guest in my own house? ... the system? haha! says the system! tricked you!)

the philosophical conflicts between "sharing" a hdd, and "owning" it, are hard for an older person like me to learn

suddenly there are files I can't delete, and even a simple program install is complex and unexplained. Your guide was a help.

Basically ... setup a named manager account in the admin group, and install manager applications from there. (leave the first logon administrator account created by windows alone, with only core programs from the MS install. during one install, I found out it doesn't like a name change.)

Then set up a user account in the admin group, and install daily user applications from there. Then change daily user to a restricted group.

Then use the Grant Access batches if the daily user needs to go higher.

I haven't got a clue how to share my printer and scanner between manager and daily user. I guess, if I install under daily user, then they will be available to manager if I need them from there?

---

two quick questions re the amazing collection of cab files at WinAddons

just to be sure, the cabs from winaddons are slipstreamed into the new source from the same page on nLite with the sequential MS patches?

insert them at the end? since that would be chronological?

the nLite page is titled "Hotfixes, Add-ons and Update Packs" it comes right after the Service Pack page?

that means the winaddon cabs are commingled with the microsoft exe's for patch-KBxxxxxx etc -- they could even be put in the hotfix subfolder and added by ctrl+a

it just seems weird -- thought I'd ask

If that's the case, your webpage uses the same word "addon" with two meanings ...

there are the AddOn exe/msi installs that come in through RunOnce. They are strored in the RunOnce dir, and get called by the batch files, which are launched from nLite.cmd that named under [Gui RunOnce] in winnt.sif

and there are the Add-on cab files from winaddons. These get slipstreamed in with the "Hotfixes," and are "integrated" into the nLite source and become available to the system before the GUI-batch phases of setup.

For example, I like your idea of directly slipstreaming 7-zip from a winaddon cab. It's such a basic utility and that makes it available during the batch phase.

Also, just curious ... any chance you might know if winaddon cabs can be slipstreamed with HFSLIP as well? What HFSLIP folder would they go in? Folder assignments are the main flaw of HFSLIP ... mainly because they are so critical and quirky, but really unexplained as to why.

HFSLIP is still under beta development with 2K specifically in mind, which is fantastic! nLite was sort of focused on XP from the start, as regards details and tweaks within winnt.sif anyway.

I can confirm that the switch format=* in winnt.sif will install 2K to a 5G FAT formatted primary partition without repartitioning the rest drive.

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For files that you can't delete, sometimes errors in the ACLs (Access Control List) creep in during installation, try issuing the command "chkdsk c: /x" replying "y " and rebooting, more often than not that will clear such things up.

I just setup two accounts when doing a W2K install, the base Administrator account and a user account, imaginatively called "User". Unlike Windows XP there isn't anything particularly special about the "Administrator" account under Windows 2000. For reference here's my "Last Session_U.ini"

;

; nLite private info

; (don't post it on the net, it's not important for debugging)

[Personal]

TimeZone = (GMT+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

CDKey = ""

ComputerName =

Organization = W2Ksp5

Language = English (Australia)

Locale = English (Australia)

Location = 7

Keyboard = US

DomainAdmin =

DomainPass =

Expirepassword = 0

JoinDomain =

JoinWorkgroup = Kitsune

Owner = Fred

[users]

Administrator|||True|Administrators|giberish|False|False|True

Guest|||False|Guests||True|False|False

User|||True|Guest||False|False|True

Any printer or scanner you install should be available to all users.

Yes, the *.cab files from winaddons.com are added at the same page in nLite as the Microsoft hotfixes. Technically they are not in fact slipstreamed, rather they are run as unattended installers at T-13 (along with certain hotfixes). On the CD you can find them at \I386\svcpack, note that they are run in the order that they are listed in nLite, you might notice in my "Last Session.ini" file I have put a leading letter to force them into a set order (most of the time this won't matter though). Another good source is the RyanVM forums.

Mind you some programs don't like being executed at T-13, for instance the K-Lite Mega Codec pack wants DirectX 9c installed first.

In my guide I put all the (standard/default) official Microsoft installers (and Adobe Flash player for I.E.) at \RunOnce and all optional third party installers (and Microsoft Silverlight) at AddOns, it's a simple way of spliting software into core operating system and optional (although often very useful) classes.

In some ways HFslip is more powerful than nLite, for instance it can slipstream WMP9 and DirectX 9c into Windows 2000, however it's not exactly user friendly.

also trying kLite standard ... it has the 123 classic player as well ... just a few fewer codecs

that's a very awesome tutorial you have been maintaining ... very well done. It's encouraging for a noob 2K builder like me to have something to follow

your batches don't mention the Kels Multi or Uber packs but you recommend them ... they are rar's ... are they inserted in the nlite Hotfixes page with the winaddon cabs? (between service pack and drivers)

comments below are sequential through your 2 batch files --- any thoughts one way or another appreciated

batch 1

-- I'm adding the switch for nobackup to the patches ... thus for example ...

(I'm going to be like a worm ... just go forward ... I might go slow, and I might go in the wrong direction, but I just go forward ...)

-- any reason to install Daemon Tools in 2-parts ... tutorial (or batch rem) might mention that part-1 assumes that 7-zip is already installed (via winaddon cab? or batch line) or that the virtual scsi driver SPTDinst...etc was DL'd seprately and is in /AddOns

-- re VMware drivers ... it also requires 7-zip as a preinstall

in the text of the tutorial, you suggest that VMware file "Windows.iso" is found in %ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware Server\Windows.iso

do I install VMware on the temporary 2K machine I'm using to build a source? and that's when the file "Windows.iso" is created, which I then copy to /AddOns?

Is helpful that VMware Tools is installed when VMware is installed later (or is tools vmware itself)?

Also, do I install both server and client for vmware, or if just one, which one?

I found VMware-server-installer-1.0.10-203137.exe (154,356,888) and

VMware-server-win32-client-1.0.10-203137.zip (22,265,894) containing

- VMware-console-1.0.10-203137.exe (10,207,160)

- VMware-VixSDK-1.0.10-203137.exe (4,896,768)

- VMware-VmCOMAPI-1.0.10-203137.exe (3,963,448)

- VMware-VmPerlAPI-1.0.10-203137.exe (6,981,208)

KB923191 with no /norestart switch forces reboot ... I'm adding a /nobackup switch there as well

reboot to batch 2

-- I've added /nobackup switches to the Dx9c installs

where I add the nobackup switch, I've pretested all of the installer exe's for the option using /? eg. windows-KBxxxxxx_x86.exe /?

-- pretty cool how nLite adds drivers!! it'll be awesome if it works

I've got an old ASUS CUV4x PIII coppermine 512 meg with VIA682x chipsets, north and south. They have a "4-in-1" driver set for 2K ... but 2K installs without them and has no yellow flags in Device Manager. Any thoughts? ... leave well enough alone - if it ain't broke don't fix it etc -- or try the mobo drivers? with 98se, I installed them ... but 2k came later

-- re the flash and shockwave plugins -- I'm going to try installing Firefox and Thunderbird as winaddon cabs by Rado354, will setup install them before the batch runs the plugins, so the plugins can find them?

-- THANKS for turning me on to Libre Office!! I didn't know about that. They are more focused on Wordperfect integration ... meaning they might also develop a plugin for reveal codes. To me trying to control a style format with without being able to see the codes is ... well it's like trying to code a html without being able to see the code ... except that as output devices printers are totally unforgiving compared to a monitor and a browser.

here's a link that may interest some people ... it's free product now ... very nice product if you have MS Office ... large legal offices see immediate improvement in secretarial productivity and accuracy when typographers are allowed to see the code that sets up each style setting.

-- on the Daemon Tools part-2 install, you call a variable %ProgramFiles(x86)%

it' not defined in my system, nor can I find a directory for Toolbar. When I installed Daemon Tools Lite 4.356.0091 I might have done a minimal install and I think it offered to install a google toolbar or something which I declined ... I guess a silent install will install the toolbar? arghhh ... any switches you know of to not even install it? Daemon tools and 7-zip are two core addons for me ...

-- the install for Virtual Box drivers refers to another iso, which like the VMware drivers (tools) I guess is copied from a prior install?

-- I couldn't find MenuReorg.bat in AddOns. I'd like to learn from it.

-- you're using VirtualPC 2007 in 2K. I had installed VirtualPC 2004 in 2K (when I tried to install 2K and gave up a few years ago -- 11 different ilstkeepers, all pros, all had significantly different lists, for the same basic components -- ie6sp1, dx9, mp9, etc.) see Windows Update Listkeepers Compared - 2009

I had read somewhere that the VPC2007 will refuse to install on win2000sp4 (like Defender), but that there is a simple tweak from ORCA that fixes it. ORCA is a part of the Installer SDK. a screenshot from a few years ago follows ...

there's a KB958162 Rollup 1 (24,739,328), and a KB969856 (MS09-033) (214,920) as well for VPC2007

Very helpful 2K tutorial there Kurt_Aust. It's giving me courage and guidance to stick it out and build a 2K system. At my age! I'll probably try a few installs from nLite and may migrate over to HFSLIP -- but has quirky folder assignments that have no rhyme or reason that I can understand, and reportedly it installs files not according to version by according to filedate, which can be download date.

thanks for the copy of lastsession_U.ini Setup didn't like my winnt.sif password the first time I installed 2K, and after about 4 or 5 permutations and combinations I entered 123 and it worked. still learning. nLite gives the option to disable indexing services but it doesn't put a line in the winnt.sif file ... I'm guessing that some of nLite's tweaking options were mainly tested on XP, so to be safe, the 2K options have to be entered by hand.

I'll try your chkdsk ... by random hunt and pick many of the files/dirs that have unmovable status out there in partition freespace are related to OO. MyDefrag is a standalone exe and can be run from a Bart's PE, so I'll try that too.

highest regards!!

Edited July 20, 2011 by Molecule

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I doubt there'd be all that much difference in performance between the gaming and standard editions of DirectX in your case, as the tweaks in the gaming version are for games that wouldn't run on the ancient hardware you mentioned.

Yes, Kel's pack are added on the hotfix page (it will take addons with .cab .zip .rar and .7z compression).

Daemon tools is installed in 2 parts as the SPTD driver (which requires a reboot) must be installed before the Daemon Tools application can be installed.

You should only install VMware tools on a virtual machine, it won't install on real hardware (it's basically a set of drivers for the virtual machine's "hardware").

You should install VMware server 1.0.10, though note that VM clients take a severe performance hit unless you CPU has hardware based virtualization capabilities (2006 or later CPUs may have it).

The service pack does come with some drivers, especially motherboard and networking drivers, so they were probably already there.

Yes, the browser plugins will find your Mozilla applications.

Um, I currently have it set up to install the K-Lite mega codec pack in batch 2, so I'm not sure what you're asking here. If you mean just changing to the standard version of the pack, I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

I suspect the K-Lite pack would have all the updates to the MS codec packs.

Oops, the curse of copy and paste, drop the (x86) bit, the line should be ["%ProgramFiles%\DAEMON Tools Toolbar\uninst.exe" /S]

MenuReorg.bat is in the \Misc folder, move it to the \AddOns folder to use it. It's only a set of move instructions to tidy up the start menu and organise the programs into logical groups.

Actually I'm not using Virtual PC 2007 in Windows 2000, rather I've got VirtualBox, VirtualPC and VMware server on my Windows XP x64 edition desktop (Q9450 Core 2 Quad, 8GB RAM, built 2008) where I do almost all my testing.

I don't recommend installing any of these virtualization programs on an ancient PC as any virtual machine will be too slow to be usable. DOSbox would still be OK if you want to play Doom 2 though.

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Unfortunately Yumeyao seems to be MiA on the RyanVM forums, so it has been necessary to change to User_Hidden's .Net installers, however as they are designed for XP they're not as efficient but still better than the original installer and patches for size, hence:

Delete RunOnce\dotNetFx_Yumeyao_Oct11.exe and

Download from MediaFire Hotfix_2000sp5_N_date.7z (.Net 1.1 SP1 & .Net 2.0 SP2) and extract it into the same directory that you chose to extract the Config archive into (see notes part 4 for other options).

MD5: 129A382B75EA2DD2508482DEF5ED5EAB

SHA-1: 5D0C2265E7275A4C101F5E31099A244A0412F7FD

Also the latest versions of Adobe flash player don't support Windows 2000, so the last working version has been added to the archives and torrent: